see pic from pelican. mine's a side shift, but it looks the same to me. is this #1 the "speedo drive retaining bolt"?
it looks like maybe the housing is stripped, but i didn't pull the bolt yet, because i don't know if i'll dump all the swepco i just put in!
thanks. paul
Click to view attachment

Typical bolt stripping area. Easy fix is to find another tail piece....

OR....fix it by inserting a sleeve....best to pull it, drill it, tap it and put a heli coil in it. I did one that way once and it was fine for years.

The BEST way...I've heard...is to weld it up and drill and retap...never done it.

tnx
what does it hold? the haynes doesn't show it, is it the speedo bolt?
...and is the housing steel?

Yup....sure looks like it.

You won't dump the oil unless you pull the cover. You COULD try a two part epoxy like JB weld.....is it dripping fluid?

The case is Magneum. I would do the drill, tap, and helicoil thing.

"Weld" it?!!!!! Welding mag alloy requires scrupulous and intensive cleaning off the car, mag welding equipment, and repair of the bore after you're done. A helicoil is difinitely the method of choice, and it can be done with the cover still installed. In fact, if the tail end of car is jacked up far enough, it can be done without losing more than a few drops of gear oil. Just gotta have a steady hand and a good eye to keep the drill straight. The Cap'n, off for a shopping trip in the boneyard. Y'all play nice!

boneyards

it's just a little wet, can't exactly see where from yet. it's clean and i wiped it off so i'll see in a minute.

i know drill and tap, but not helicoil...yet
...looked it up, now i understand.

thanks everyone!

It shouldn't leak at all. It goes in distal to the O-ring on the speedo drive and holds the drive from backing out. (it rests in the notch to the right of the last line pointing to #4).

They require very low torque, but people tend to over do it and strip them. It's common. If you do the heli coil right it will be fine. Many folks do not so they are back to where they started with a now bigger hole to fill.

ahh, i see now. do i order from here, or can i buy the stuff locally?
no leaky btw. it's from somewhere else, but very little fluid, nothing worrying me.

Pretty much any decent flaps or hardware store sells heli-coil kits...

FORTY BUCKS!?!?!?!?

i'll drill it out and tap a larger bolt for that dough. sorry.
not doing it today though. maybe monday or tues. if someone locally wants to come by with one i can use.

It's a simple procedure to drill and tap for a larger bolt. Then you can just grind the end of the larger bolt to the same size as the original bolt. You will need to remove the speedo drive housing to do this though, which will require draining the trans, or at least jacking the tail end up high so it doesn't leak out.

The big problem with these is that the bolt won't go all the way in unless the hole in the speedo drive housing is lined up with the hole in the tail housing. People just tighten it down without it being aligned and it strips the hole.

If you're in a pinch you can leave the bolt out completely and strap the speedo drive in with a heavy duty nylon tie.